I'm a Hong Kong citizen and as far as I know Apple's not gonna set up any iTunes store in HK. Piracy is alleged to be the sole concern. I'm indeed very displeased about this, since I really want something like iTunes music store where I can buy legal music and videos conveniently, and which syncs seamlessly with my iPod. Indeed, other than iTunes store, we're excluded from most online outlets that sell music. CDs are still sold in local outlets, but it's just not the best way to enjoy music in today's digital world anymore. I feel kinda crippled because of all this.

Piracy is not a problem exclusive to Asian locales. A report released last month by the International Federation of Phonographic Industries revealed there were still 40 illegal downloads for every legal one in the US. Is piracy an indestructible obstacle between the Asian market and the likes of iTunes music store? What could be done to change this situation?

As a Chinese, I know piracy is very popular in China. Quite frankly, there is almost no legal copy in Mainland China, and I won't blame Apple for not establishing the iTunes music store in any part of Mainland China. Well, piracy should be forbidden, but the problem is how to stop the piracy? Think about it:

You're a Chinese, and you know the market better than me [I stayed in US for almost 5 years] if you wants to buy a Windows Vista Ultimate which is about $399.99 USD [Complete Version] $259.99 USD [Upgrade Version]. And in China, there is about $1 USD per copy, of course, PIRATED copy. Which one do you want, four hundred dollars or one dollar?

CSI you're Chinese? That... I never thought of, coz you sound pretty western to me. Which part of China you belonged to?

Anyway, I know what you mean. But I do think HK is different from Mainland China, be it just wishful thinking on my part. Let's not say an OS system, but just music. It's not really expensive to buy a legal copy from iTunes store- indeed, it's much cheaper and allows more freedom than CDs, and people are still visiting HMVs to buy CDs here, then why won't they turn to download from an online legal distributor should there be one?

Yeah, I am...But my nationality is US. As a born Chinese, I was in Anhui Province, near Shanghai. Besides, you sound pretty western to me, too.

Back on topic: No, seriously, I think piracy is not only on music, but also on other things...And no offense, I would be surprised if there is a legal copy in China. I have to agree with you that HK is different than China, as I have been there only two times, therefore I don't know much about there.

And, China is different than America--most people doesn't have a iPod or mp3 player or personal computer with them like we do. But instead, they have cheaper version of CD player, that's why they go to HMVs to hunt for legal copy of CDs--about same price as Pirated software.

And back on the Piracy: There was once a survey around countries which distributes pirated software-- 1. China. 2. India...Both countries are heavily populated, therefore the GDP was lower than United States, England...And that made people poorer than Developed countries. And they need technologies to improve themselves, as the obstacles of insufficient funds to obtain legal copies...Then what happens? Disaster. Wide distribution of piracy. Then what? Less and less countries are willing to distribute legal copies to these countries as they can't get profits from them, then the piracy spreaded wider and wider, and it will affect nearby countries, therefore it's a bad chain-reaction. Sorry if it is hard, I had took brief Economy in high school...However feel free to comment.

Back on topic: No, seriously, I think piracy is not only on music, but also on other things...And no offense, I would be surprised if there is a legal copy in China. I have to agree with you that HK is different than China, as I have been there only two times, therefore I don't know much about there.

Yes piracy is not only on music, but with iTunes store and the likes as the initial subject of the topic I'd focus on piracy on music and movies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSI:Nihilus

And, China is different than America--most people doesn't have a iPod or mp3 player or personal computer with them like we do. But instead, they have cheaper version of CD player, that's why they go to HMVs to hunt for legal copy of CDs--about same price as Pirated software.

Maybe that's true for up there, but it ain't that in HK. iPod is a hit here and most people have mp3 players. And I was just referring to HK when I said people do visit HMV- I don't know about Mainland. And you can't compare CDs and software that way can ya? Compare music with music, software with software. I'm just saying if people are willing to shell out USD$15 for a legal album (in HK), I don't see why they won't spend USD$0.99 for a song, plus the convenience of syncing it with iPod and other digital music players.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSI:Nihilus

And back on the Piracy: There was once a survey around countries which distributes pirated software-- 1. China. 2. India...Both countries are heavily populated, therefore the GDP was lower than United States, England...And that made people poorer than Developed countries. And they need technologies to improve themselves, as the obstacles of insufficient funds to obtain legal copies...Then what happens? Disaster. Wide distribution of piracy. Then what? Less and less countries are willing to distribute legal copies to these countries as they can't get profits from them, then the piracy spreaded wider and wider, and it will affect nearby countries, therefore it's a bad chain-reaction. Sorry if it is hard, I had took brief Economy in high school...However feel free to comment.

I took Economics in A Levels. The GDP is more affected by a country's economic state than its population size. A huge nation can still foster in economy. And indeed, poverty is not the reason to piracy anymore. The economic boost in China begets wealth, and they're visiting HK to peruse all sorts of luxuries. Education is now the root of piracy. But other than that, I agree with what you said. It's a vicious cycle. And something has to be done to shatter this cycle.

Yes piracy is not only on music, but with iTunes store and the likes as the initial subject of the topic I'd focus on piracy on music and movies.

Sorry for swaying off the topic, but I'd like to discuss that piracy is everywhere, not solely focusing on music and movies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Sith'ari

Maybe that's true for up there, but it ain't that in HK. iPod is a hit here and most people have mp3 players. And I was just referring to HK when I said people do visit HMV- I don't know about Mainland. And you can't compare CDs and software that way can ya? Compare music with music, software with software. I'm just saying if people are willing to shell out USD$15 for a legal album (in HK), I don't see why they won't spend USD$0.99 for a song, plus the convenience of syncing it with iPod and other digital music players.

I took Economics in A Levels. The GDP is more affected by a country's economic state than its population size. A huge nation can still foster in economy. And indeed, poverty is not the reason to piracy anymore. The economic boost in China begets wealth, and they're visiting HK to peruse all sorts of luxuries. Education is now the root of piracy. But other than that, I agree with what you said. It's a vicious cycle. And something has to be done to shatter this cycle.

Problem is, what? Do you have any ideas? Well, this has something about politics.

well i have an MP3 player, not an iPOD, and my dad has three ~ illegal activity discussion snipped, please keep it off the forums ~ tk102
I think I just might buy an iPOD and start using iTunes, cause he said we could do that if I wanted to.

Yeah, an iTunes store will go bacnkrupt if there is nobody buying songs due to piracy, it was a smart move. But it really saddens me that people have to relly on piracy to get their stuff, good people are losing business and jobs.

I never use .ogg files, the highest quality of music file is a .flac they can be played with winamp, but the downside of them is a standard CD takes up near 400MB of disk space whereas if you had a MP3 V0 (VBR) it would only take up around 100MB, (V0 (VRB) MP3 is the highest quality of MP3). And as for iTunes, I recently bought a song of iTunes because i couldn't find the song anywhere else, my local music store didn't have it so I though of iTunes, then once I bought it and downloaded it I couldn't play it because it was an .m4p file format, so I had to sacrifice a little of the quality to convert the file to .mp3, and the I burned it to CD, I hate the way iTunes uses .m4p file format, I don't think I'll ever buy from iTunes again, fussy I may be, but I prefer to have a higher quality of music than a track that is all fuzzy and hissing in the background, the lowest quality of music I will listen to is 192kbps (bit Rate), if i can't find it in that quality or higher I may go down to 128kbps.